Uprise of the Rebellious Princess

It's A Man Part 2

She extended her hand to him, for he was still kneeled at the map. His eyes pierced her tender, delicate hands. He was surprised how someone with such exquisite hands was decided to engage in an all-out fight for love. Atotoztli stared at him affectionately –yet with a warrior-like posture so overpowering which showed her indomitable character.

“So you know me indeed,” she said teasing him.

She unexpectedly dropped the bundled dress she was still holding. Her brown skin shone golden when the Sun aimed his first morning arrows at her. Her dark hair sparkled to the reflection of the lake. He was impressed with her curvy body reflecting such dreamy soft morning colors. Apparently she noticed his admiration while taking her hands to her waist.

“But can you hold on to me as the storm approaches us?”

He walked towards her, with his eyes fixed on hers. “I not only promise you, I warn you, I will never let go of you,” he replied.

“Never let me go!” moaned Atotoztli, “I am now captive of your heart.”

His hand held the back of Atotoztli's head softly, and as he restrained himself from kissing her he said, “Maybe odds will take you from my side. But whether you change your mind or not, I swear to never cease clinging to your heart. I am now captive of your beauty.”

“Do you promise, my love?” asked Atotoztli, as she caressed the back of his head. Her voice and her eyes were stubbornly searching for his love, pure and raw, “Do you?”

“This I pledge to you, my love. Let the world know my vow! My love for you will never surrender or wither ahead of the mightiest vexing troubles to come,” Yacanex said, with a strong yet amorous voice to its core.

He leaned forward, his lips yearning for hers. She approached as well. Both their mouths stuck together tasting their warm lips. Their mouths glued together in a moment of seeming timeless rapture. A kiss that felt so truthful and invigorating. Truly, Yacanex felt loved, even when grim news were deciphered from the map. At first he imagined that a girl of such stature like Atotoztli would not engage in a feud with powerful relatives in the court of Tenayuca, in fear of devaluating her worth as Lady of Colhuacan. Particularly if it was for the love of a nobody, like himself. But Atotoztli debunked his fears, remaining resolute to her convictions, to her love, and even to herself. Love and admiration grew even larger for this real Cihuatecutli. He now knew she was capable of rising against burdensome family ties just to fight for love.

The sun, the shiny Tonatiuh, was peeking from behind the Eastern Mountains. His arrows could barely go through the fog that elevated from the lake. The night was defeated once again, but the summer morning coldness still prevailed. A harsh coldness that numbs the fingers and the cheeks. A coldness that did not bend their love but strengthened it.

All dressed again, they strolled for a moment near the lake awaiting their boat to return for them. But his mind was still worried about things to come. Evidently both were thinking the same, for she was also in the same mood. Standing with her proud pose, she stared at the towering volcanoes in the east. Such vivid colors that both exhibited! Yet it appeared she was not so interested in the pastel colors the snow presented at the top of the volcanoes. Atotoztli showed a resolute semblance. He approached her from below, stepping up to the promontory where she was standing. At each step, Yacanex’s sandals disturbed the myriad of ceramic debris at a slanted patch without grass. She turned at the tumbling sound the broken pieces made.

“Mementos from another time,” said Atotoztli, as she stared at the remains from olden days, “shattered amongst the dust.”

“It is a sad fate for the belongings to which people once put an effort on,” said Yacanex.“It is how they say –‘even things perish when people die.' That is why the olden ones crashed their pottery and everyday belongings into death.”

Atotoztli stared for a moment at a large broken piece of a plate. Still carrying red, black, and creamy colors, though weathered and roughed by the crusted soil on it. She picked up the almost triangular-shaped piece. He noticed her fingers softly touched the old intricate motifs painted on it.

“So they say,” said Atotoztli, “Our essence may leave our body as well as its print on our belongings. But the trail marks of our lives remain in this world, be it by objects or by deeds. Whatever we leave behind after we depart remain a clear-cut testament of our endeavors –that is our legacy. At much, a faded echo of who we are will survive our death. Therefore, we shall live loud enough so the echo of our lives turns into an ageless voice.”

“Even if it is debris as these?” asked Yacanex, “Do they still say much about the people from past times?”

“I am resigned, as we all should be, that my possessions will end up shattered under the burdensome passing of the ages,” said Atotoztli, with resolute conviction in her soft voice. “And the same goes for any feat in our life. Just like these old pieces, the memory of our passing through this world will eventual decay to only eroded rubble under the unforgiving dust of time. Sure. But just as we pick up today these pieces from lives long gone, someone will pick our own. By chance or commitment, someone in future years will stumble upon whatever mark is left from our lives. Tell me, my love, what sort of debris from both our lives do you want unborn generations to hold in their hands? One that shows nothing but a dull, inert life –not worth of neither remembering nor emulating? Who is fool enough to follow a life wasted by cowardice of the circumstances? Intentions will never endure, only successes and defeats. If we want to show the world that our love is worth, we need to fight for it –not minding the outcome. Victory or failure doesn’t matter, for it will show that someone considers love to be of value.”

He remained silent not because he did not know what to answer. He listened carefully to her call to arms to uphold their love. His blood vibrated elatedly at her appeal. His heart was aroused to a state of flaming readiness –set for combat, rallied under their love. He thought he might never express himself as eloquently as herself. Nonetheless, he shared the same ideas in his mind. And so he rooted for every word she uttered.

“And if only debris is to be found from our lives, let them at best be so outstanding that they will influence someone,” continued Atotoztli. “Let’s leave pieces of our lives be so unique, that will make a traveler halt his pace to pick them up in awe at what we accomplished well before his feet ever walked this world.”

Once he reached her, Yacanex kneeled and caressed her right thigh. His hands surrounded her round firmness. As his hands gripped, her dress folded exquisitely, following the contour of her body. He turned up his head, and her delicate almond eyes were lovingly gazing down at him. It was incredible how beautifully fragile she could look, yet her heart was leading him to war –to fight for their love.

“My love,” said Atotoztli, a bit uneasy, “Assure me. Will you stand by your pledge? You will never let go of my heart, right?”

He nodded. Stopped for a brief moment, and then nodded more decisively. It was not doubt that made him hesitate, but rather the thought of how to prove his promise.

“I can guarantee you this as the simple man I am,” said Yacanex as he stood up slowly. His hands sweetly caress her face. He bent a bit to have his eyes close to hers. “Do you think I would let such a gorgeous lady slip away from my arms? A vastly intelligent woman to be disregarded? A unique person to fade away from my life? An astonishing dexterous lover to vanish from under my bedspread?” Atotoztli tittered. He smiled back, proving his point bluntly but realistically. When she nodded, he knew she understood what his point of view was. It wasn’t only about his love for her, but his manly reality towards her. “A woman so fair, in my eyes and heart?” Atotoztli had her eyes filled with tears of joy, her mouth drawing a soothing smiling. “No man in all the realms of this world could even begin to contemplate the idea of losing such a wonderful woman to the tides of fate –not even your father. But with my love I will cling to your heart and readily rise to whatever devastating strife that may await me. I promise to battle it all for you, my love, dear Atotoztli.”

“This thing we have is good in nature,” said Atotoztli. She turned towards the glory of the rising sun, elevating its golden throne amid the remaining clouds. “And this shall be our legacy. What better purpose in life than love? Love ought to be our legacy for the ages.”

“Free and unrestrained love,” said Yacanex.

“The purest of love,” added Atotoztli, “till stars shut their eyes?”

Yacanex slowly nodded and replied, “Until the moon falls down! Even after countless eons come and go.”

“Until time ceases to flow?”, she asked.

“And even after that.”

“Beyond the shores of forever!”

Yacanex grabbed her while kissing Atotoztli with passion in its fullest. A long and fulfilling goodbye kiss to nourish their hearts for days. The kind of kisses in which the breath becomes absent in the oh-so watery mouth, that when it ends, a frustrating yearning for more still remains.

A warmer breeze began to fill the day. Their hands held as the Mexica boatman arrived at the shore. He took them back to the banks at the outskirts of Colhuacan. The sudden halt shook the boat. Yacanex and Atotoztli remained seated, in silence, holding hands. The silence before a farewell is agonizing because a moment is about to succumb. Never mind the odds for any future encounters, still the goodbye is at hand. And for this, their hearts ached. After a while, they realized the boatman left them alone, minding their privacy. They desperately looked at each other. But it was useless, the moment had ended. Both now needed to depart to their own lives –one life of luxury and quarrels, the other of austerity and friendships. But inevitably, both their lives headed straight to a standoff in the name of love. Of starkly contrasting births, their lives were intertwined by fate to become one by love.

Yacanex walked away, leaving her behind. He turned, and she smiled. He needed to return back to Tepetlaoztoc at once, to carry the dreadful news the map yielded. So he kept walking until he heard her voice cry his name. He turned, and she was running towards him. Her white dress waved by her legs. Then she stopped, still far from him.

“Let’s make our lives so loud, so strong, that no faint echo shall survive us, only an undying clear voice” shouted Atotoztli.

“To leave a mark of what we believed in,” said Yacanex with a soft voice as he nodded.

“Love,” she said with a softer voice as she nodded back.

“Oh, such a simple thing. Love! Such a trying thing,” he thought to himself.

He waved, and whimsically bowed to her. She smiled and burst into chuckles.